Dialogue with the winning students of the WWDC22 Swift Challenge: Take action! Create your own app

       On the evening of June 2, Apple's WWDC2022 will be held next Tuesday. This week, Apple also announced the winners of the 2022 Swift Student Challenge, of which 21 were students from mainland China.

　　This year’s Swift Student Challenge invited students from around the world to create a Swift Playgrounds app project on a theme of their choice. We also interviewed six of the winning students to hear them talk about their creative process for this competition.

　　Don’t be afraid of cross-disciplinary studies!

Qian Yuxin's award-winning work "Three-Dimensional Space"

　　Qian Yuxin, a junior student from Shanghai Business School majoring in Fashion and Apparel Design, won the award for her work, Three-Dimensional Space, a puzzle game that uses SceneKit to build a 3D world to train the user's logical thinking and spatial imagination.

　　Yu Xin said that the inspiration for this work came from life. She found that many of her friends did not have a good imagination of three-dimensional space, so she came up with the idea of ​​using the more interesting and interactive Swift programming language to create a small game that allows players to exercise their spatial thinking ability in the game.

Qian Yuxin

　　As a student who participated in the competition across majors, it was somewhat difficult to learn a programming language from scratch. In the communication with Yuxin, she said: "At the beginning, my thinking was very emotional and I would follow my feelings, but programming requires rational thinking logic, and switching between the two is still a bit troublesome for me." However, driven by her hobby and with the help of school clubs, she gradually mastered and proficiently used the Swift language.

　　The development of Three-Dimensional Space was also a very special experience for her.

　　During the project development process, the epidemic in Shanghai was at its worst. The school did not allow gatherings, and there was no environment for everyone to prepare for the competition together in the office like in previous years. When there were questions that they did not know, online web conferences were the place for them to answer questions. Some students even used remote control to participate in the competition because their computers were not with them.

Qian Yuxin's award-winning work "Three-Dimensional Space"

　　Yuxin also said that in the school's iOS Club, there are students from various majors, and she hopes that students who are interested in programming do not have to stick to their majors and should boldly try.

　　"Compared to other students majoring in computer science, my advantage is that my thinking and spatial imagination are more open. Moreover, Swift development is also a big plus for graduating students to find their dream jobs! Compared with art students with the same conditions, I have a slight advantage because I master Swift development."

　　Listen to what the vice presidents have to say about iOS Club!

　　We also mentioned the iOS club in the above article. In order to prevent someone from not knowing this club, here is an introduction: iOS Club is simply a team of developers who develop iOS apps. The club is the only officially certified iOS development club for college students by Apple, and it has developed relatively maturely in many domestic colleges and universities.

　　Among the winners this time, there are also two vice presidents of iOS Club from different schools.

Wang Yuxuan

　　Wang Yuxuan from Jilin University shared with us that the iOS club is not just a place for tech geeks to chat about technology or code! If she were to use two keywords to describe the atmosphere of the iOS club, they would be "active" and "sharing".

Wang Yuxuan's award-winning work "The Path in the Garden"

　　Before joining the iOS club, Yuxuan knew nothing about Apple technology. After joining the club, the club teachers often encouraged students to play and create, and seniors often shared some new technologies and their own learning process of Swift. Through these, she gradually built up an understanding of Apple technology, and she signed up for this competition with the encouragement of the club and classmates.

Wu Yaoyao

　　Wu Yaoyao from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications learned about iOS Club through the Mobile App Innovation Competition and established an iOS Club at BUPT. In the club, she and her classmates shared knowledge about Apple's student activities and iOS development, and also established connections with iOS Clubs in other universities. This year is also her second time to participate in the Swift Student Challenge.